Molly from the Cross Roads blog asked me to consider doing a blog on our waste water system.
So here it is-
When looking into what system we were going to buy we automatically knew what we didn't want.
We did
NOT want:
~ a mini town sewage treatment plant that uses lots of electricity and chemicals and requires lots of maintenance.
A lot of these systems are loved by Council Inspectors because they are familiar with the technology but they aren't the type of thing that you want to own and be responsible for.
These systems often require between 2 and 4 maintenance visits a year. These can cost hundreds of dollars a year. Just imagine what you will spend over 10-20 years.
They have multiple pumps and UV lights and chemicals and lots of things that require electricity and parts that can and do go wrong. An example of this type of system would be a bio-cycle system. Some people love these systems but we knew we wouldn't. I guess it is a case of "horses for courses".
~We also didn't want a standard, stinky septic tank with the associated area of lawn that requires almost daily mowing in summer. This area is where the soil slowly degrades into a lifeless, rotten, stinky, pathogen filled swamp.
I looked very carefully at the commercial composting toilet based products on the market. (Such as rota loo & natureloo). I heard of other companies who were no longer trading. The owners of their products weren't able to get their annual certification for their toilet to operate causing all sorts of local council red tape nightmares.
The commercial dry composting toilets are surprisingly expensive and require a grey water system as well to deal with the excess urine as well as other grey water from the household.
I emailed and spoke with as many owners that I could find. In general those that had the composting toilet outside away from the house were happy with them but those that had them inside weren't.
A valuable lesson.
I then stumbled across this article
http://users.bigpond.net.au/d.keenan/TheTroubleWithCompostingToilets.htm
One night we were watching Gardening Australia and we saw a system that could be connected to any sewer pipe, it didn't matter if your pipes were already cast in your houses concrete slab. It allows you to have a normal flush toilet. The system can use those new low water flush toilets like ours. The system composts all your organic household waste, such as cardboard, paper kitchen scrapes... basically anything organic. The system can even be retrofitted into existing septic tanks.
I looked up the company and found them to be professional and great to deal with.
The system was an A&A wormfarm waste system.
See
http://www.wormfarm.com.au
Another happy owner has a web site with a picture of the system tucked under his deck. See
http://mtbest.net/worm_farm.html
A number of emails and phone conversations were had with the company. The company even took over dealing with the local council. (what a blessing!)
The deposit was made and we were on the way.
The system has no ongoing maintenance bills, it can be installed in a way that uses no electricity and the only moving part is a wind driven ventilator (whirlybird). The system uses "rainforest floor ecosystem technology" with worms etc that break down everything into a aerated nutrient rich liquid that can be used to feed trees and other plants.
Most owners are very happy with the reduced garbage they have since installing the system. You get used to sorting all the organics for the worms to enjoy very quickly.
The organics go into the system via the standard composting bin that is on top of the chamber.
(see photos below)
As a result the amount of garbage that you have after putting aside the recycling is quite small.
The wormfarm arrives
The Wormfarm is dropped into the hole
Trenches are dug for drainage under the chamber. This is because it only ever contains about 10-15 cm of liquid in the bottom of the chamber. Any groundwater needs to be drained away so the chamber does not pop up out of the ground.
Then I dug the trench to hook up the hut's waste water pipe to the wormfarm.
It was hard going in all that sandstone.
Note the jack hammer and bar in the photo. Also note the ventilation pipe and compost bin on the installed wormfarm.
The last step was the installation of the transpiration area. This is traditionally achieved by digging a long deep pit filling it with plastic relin arch drain tube and then putting in a few thousand dollars worth of gravel. This is then covered back up with dirt!
Another alternative, which we used, is a series of sub-surface trenches about 200 mm (8 inches) deep ( very little digging) in which a 25-30mm plastic pipe riddled with holes is placed. This pipe is connected to form a manifold which is then covered with a small amount of gravel . The surface dirt is then raked over the trenches. The worm wee is discharged over a 300m squared area. This area now forms the orchard. More on the orchard later.
We have had the system working for about 3 years now and are very happy with it. I especially enjoy the absence of maintenance visits and bills. We have painted the vent pipe and the compost bin "wilderness green". The lawn has grown around it and the system looks good!
I returned to the hut with the remains of the Banksias, some wattle sap and some moss. Out came the drill, some glass "jewels" from the $2 shop. Up at the shed I found some silicon and some pieces of copper wire.
